Contributors

Many years ago, more than she wants to recount, Marilyn Sadler took a freelance writing class taught by one of the editors of Memphis. That class paved the way for a career chockfull of interviews — with an eccentric cotton broker, a crack-addicted mother, a renowned artist's widow, a salty-tongued newspaper editor, and a woman whose cookies brought her fame and fortune, just to mention a few. Sometimes the interview locales have been as unusual as the people. Take the street curb on Monroe, where Sadler sat one frigid morning, while the cotton broker paced and ranted and his office got a paint job. "My tailbone still remembers that day," she says. A native of Chattanooga who has spent most of her life in the Bluff City, the senior editor of Memphis has also covered several local homicides and their terrible aftermath. This month and next — after in-depth interviews with the victim's daughter, sister, and others who knew the late Emily Klyce Fisher — Sadler looks back at Fisher's 1995 murder and the crime's lingering effects on loved ones.

Greg Akers

When editorial contributor Greg Akers isn't tracking down the best recipes in the city for Memphis magazine, editing Living Spaces for sister publication Memphis Flyer, writing film reviews for the Flyer, or getting settled in his new role as editor of another sister pub, MBQ, he and his wife enjoy their daughter's terribly precious twos. Greg's second favorite movie of all time is Aliens. If you are lucky enough to meet him in person, he'll happily tell you his first.

Justin Fox Burks

Memphis-based freelance photojournalist Justin Fox Burks is a man in love with his town. His fascination with his city and its inhabitants is reflected in his body of work, which has appeared in The Memphis Flyer, Rhodes, London Independent, Garden & Gun, Paste, Mojo, and Wax Poetics. Ever intrepid, for this month's photo for our Inside/Out column on allergies, Burks searched for two days before finding a model willing to put a flower in her mouth and accessorize with matching lipstick. An awkward conversation starter, to be sure. Ironically, the first few "models" declined, due to pollen allergies. True story.

Preston Lauterbach

Preston Lauterbach did not drive himself to work today. He writes for this magazine, though. One time he had his picture with a baby in a magazine. He's starting to get sleepy now. He loves imported beer. He won "Most Memorable" at high school, then majored in history at college. He likes rationalist philosophy, believes that one thing can lead to another, and enjoys problems with readily apparent solutions.

Nicky Robertshaw

A longtime journalist, first as Washington correspondent for Women's Wear Daily and others, then as a reporter for Memphis Business Journal, Nicky is now a food and travel writer. She is author of a book, Insider's Guide to Memphis, and hails from a town of writers, Greenville, Mississippi.